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Chapter 31 - D. N. A. (TCOK)
Tubba rolled over in a haze of pain. Everything hurt. Where am I? What am I doing? Tubba desperately sifted through his mind for what he was doing. With a jolt, it all came back to him. ''The moat jump. The bone shatterings. The drowning. Am I dead? ''Keeping his eyes closed, fearing that if he opened them the first person he would see would be his father. ''I can't be dead. Otherwise I wouldn't be in so much pain. Unless of course, this isn't Star Haven. ''However, as Tubba began to reacquaint himself with every part of his body, he realized he was in much less pain than immediately after contact. He could feel his legs, and although they felt very ginger, and pulsed with pain, it wasn't excruciating. Neither could he feel any pulsing blood from his various wounds. Tubba opened his eyes; he was staring at a very dingy, damp stone. The area where he was in was dimly lit, and the sound of running water was a clear feature. The closest thing he could equate the room to was a sewer. In the top left corner of the room was an open manhole, with gallons and gallons of water pouring into the room and flowing around the platform they were currently on. In the top right corner was a similar fixture, except this hole had a grating in place, limiting the flow of debris into the water around the platform. Directly behind him, in the bottom corners of the room, further grates guided the water lower down and into the plumbing. The outer walls of the room were separated from the platform by the canals of water flowing in from the roof and down through the plumbing. "You're awake, then?" It was a voice that belonged to a name that Tubba had last spoken with a boundaryless anger. It was a voice that had haunted him through his short thirteen years. It was a voice that he was so surprised to hear. Tubba gingerly sat up, and turned to face his twin. Chubba raised his hand, forestalling any questions. "You owe me everything, brother. I saved your life." "Well, color me teal, why?" Tubba snorted, "you've wanted me dead most of our life." "It's different when you're actually down in that moat, dying. The Iglators that "defeated" you came back, gloating. I made it my mission to come and save you, because I needed someone who hadn't surrendered. Clubbar surrendered, so we're the only two Clubbas left. Or anyone that can fight, really." Satisfied to an extent with the explanation, Tubba stretched each of his sore limbs gingerly. "I broke nearly all 206 bones in my body. How is it that I'm just sore?" "That's my doing," the blue medic on the SS Mahruav, who Tubba had not noticed before, took a step forward from the dingy corners of the room. I was the only one who followed Chubba's run to the moat." "Shaye? You're here? Why?" "As a medic, I stayed out of the fight." Shaye cracked a smile underneath her mask, "the Iglators didn't bother to stop me when I ran after Chubba. Healing broken bones is a fairly common occurence in the Mushroom Kingdom. Super Mushrooms can do it, but the Magikoopas, due to Bowser's loads of injuries, devised a potion that can heal broken bones in less than an hour. You'll be ginger, but every bone is fixed." Giving Shaye a curt nod, Tubba turned to his brother. "What's the plan? You've said we surrendered." "That we did." Chubba confirmed. "I refused to quit, but Clubbar did. We're the last three unsurrendered members of our Kingdom." Swearing in annoyance, Tubba growled, "we can't let them win the fight so easily." A legitimate smile broke across the face of his brother. "My thoughts exactly. I do what I want. I want to fight." Grasping his brother's fist in his own, Tubba mirrored his smile. "Let's do this. Where's Karubba's club?" Shaye limped closer to the two brothers, holding Karubba's club between both her forearms and elbows. "Here it is. It's quite heavy." Tubba grabbed the club out of Shaye's grasp, hoisting it effortlessly with one arm. "Let's get out of here." Tubba glanced around the room for an obvious way to exit. There was only dim light filtering in from the two holes in the roof, and that light was refracted by water, giving the room an eerie glow. Spotting a Warp Pipe in the corner, across the canal between the platform and the outer wall, Tubba gestured for his brother to follow him to the Pipe. "Any idea where this goes?" Tubba asked as he splashed through the shallow, knee-height water racing by him into the bottom grates. The red Clubba lifted himself out of the water, shaking himself dry and balancing on the edge of the Warp Pipe. Chubba shook his head as he joined his brother on the side of the Warp Pipe. "Only one way to find out, I think." "Shaye!" Tubba called the blue medic waiting on the platform directly across from them. "If we're not back in three hours, consider us dead and save yourself." Without waiting for a response, Tubba pushed off the edge of the Warp Pipe and heaved himself into the blackness. The sound of scales rustling against the Pipe behind him signalled that Chubba had followed him in. The Pipe twisted and swerved wildly, went up and down like a wild roller coaster, and in the smothering blackness, Tubba had no sense of direction. The Pipe was comfortably spaced, with the walls an arm reach's away from Tubba, and the ceiling many inches above his head, although he was lying on his back. ''How does Mario survive in these things? ''Tubba thought as he raced along the Pipe, his scales and shell scraping uncomfortably against the green metal and Karubba's club creating an uncomfortable friction, slowing him down. Ahead of him, Tubba could make out light. ''That's the exit. I have to be prepared to fight. ''Grabbing the club with both his hands, still lying on his back, he hurtled to the brighter, brighter, and now blinding light at incredible speed. Leaping out of the Warp Pipe with his hands braced around his club. Tubba had enough time to register the eccentric appearance of the room: many Warp Pipes were spread across the stone room, lit by artifical lighting, and in the centre were five Iglators in front of a computer that held cameras to many plumbing locations, their shells all assortments of colors, before Chubba came hurtling out of the Pipe just behind him. Standing side by side, the two of the brothers glared the Iglators down, who appeared taken aback by their appearance. "You two were responsible for the breach on Sewer Sixteen?" The lead one, with black hair done up in a Bowser-esque hairstyle, exclaimed, before snorting. "They won't be much, boys." Exchanging a glance with Chubba, the two of them braced their clubs for battle. While Tubba always imagined battling with his DNA, he had thought it would be his father. But as they raced toward the Iglators, Tubba was quite happy to be battling alongside his brother, if nothing else.